Oh boy!

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa says it’s ‘always fun’ to play Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Anish Giri.

Second to one

R Praggnanandhaa finished second in the Chessable Masters after putting up a lionhearted fight and pushing the two-day final into a tie-breaker against world No. 2 Ding Liren.
Praggnanandhaa trailed 1.5-2.5 after Day 1 of the final against Liren. However, he made a strong comeback on Day 2, winning the second day 2.5-1.5, which left both players equal on four points.
The tie-break was played in the blitz format and the 29-year old Liren beat the Indian star in the second tie-break game after the first had ended in a draw.

Carlsen and Liren are the world’s top two ranked players, and Giri is the world No. 10. Praggnanandhaa is a relatively lowly No. 108 in the world. Just how can it be ‘fun’ if there’s such a massive gap in rankings and ELO ratings? Praggnanandhaa’s is 2642 in standard chess and 1927 in the rapid format, while Carlsen’s ELO rating is 2864 in the standard format and 2847 in rapid. Liren (2806, 2836) is also far ahead of Praggnanandhaa.

Yet, Praggnanandhaa says he ‘enjoyed’ playing such super GMs in the Chessable Masters online tournament — this despite the fact that the games finished late night India time, and there could be an exam in school the next day!

That’s not the average 16-year-old schoolboy’s daily routine — chess GM by night, writing an exam the next morning.

Schoolboy wonder

Praggnanandhaa is no ordinary schoolboy, though he says he wasn’t expecting a clash between his Class XI examination and the tournament — he thought he’d crash out of the tournament before the exams started. “I thought, well, I would not reach the knockouts, I would crash out in the group stages. And then focus on the exams,” says Praggnanandhaa in an online chat after finishing second behind Liren.

As he progressed through the tournament, he realised managing exams and a chess tournament, featuring the world’s best players, was tougher than expected. “I didn’t think it would be tough… I thought I’d play in the night and study in the morning, so it would be fine,” says Praggnanandhaa, and then throws in the punchline: “But I realised that studying also makes you tired!”

Then he makes a stunning revelation — he didn’t really prepare for the tournament. “What I did was, I didn’t really care about preparation for this tournament! I just wanted to play to my over-the-board strength and see what happened,” he says in a matter of fact manner. “Even on the last day of the final, I just prepared for half-hour or something, just checking the first final day’s games and then just going to the game directly.” He says he didn’t ‘over-prepare’, and that helped him play to his full strength.

Tactical strength

His coach, RB Ramesh, himself a GM, agrees. “He was relying on tactical strength rather than preparation. This shows his confidence in his decision-making and analytical skills,” says Ramesh. “He was thinking on the board and was trusting the hard work he had put on early. This is the biggest positive from the tournament, for in the past, he has sometimes tended to over-prepare.”

Ramesh has coached Praggnanandhaa for more than half his life — they have been working together for nine years, when Praggnanandhaa was only seven. Chess has been a constant for Praggnanandhaa — he has good analytical company at home, for his elder sister Vaishali is herself a Woman GM and the person who caused the boy to pick up chess.

Ramesh says the effort Praggnanandhaa puts into his game, to improve in the areas he’s weak in, is simply outstanding. “There are players who always play in their comfort zone, but he is not like that,” says Ramesh. “He works a lot on areas that are uncomfortable for him. For instance, during this lockdown, he was working on his openings with black pieces. This hardworking nature sets him apart from a lot of other youngsters, who are talented but are not as hardworking as he is.”

Praggnanandhaa passed the 2600 ELO rating when he was only 14 — coach Ramesh says he’d be among the youngest players ever to reach that mark.

However, the Covid lockdown caused a disruption. Even as tournaments were cancelled all over, Praggnanandhaa wasn’t very keen about playing online tournament. He lost out on valuable playing time, and ELO points, due to this. “He crossed the 2600 ELO mark when he was 14, but in the next two years he managed only around 600 points,” says Ramesh. But the coach thinks the time itself wasn’t wasted.

Lockdown lessons

“He made good use of that time, learning new variations and studying new moves. As a player, he has made a lot of progress and he is reaping the rewards,” says Ramesh.

Vaishali benefitted, too. She’s four years older than Praggnanandhaa, who was beating her by the time he turned 10. Playing with him regularly, analysing the games together, helped her improve.

“We used to have a lot of fights initially when he started beating me,” Vaishali said earlier this year. “Becoming a GM is tough, that’s why there are only two women who are Grandmasters in India. Chess-wise, he teaches me a lot of things,” she said.

Praggnanandhaa says he was left exhausted by chess at night and school exams in the day. “I’d be OK in a couple of days,” he says.

He says beating players of the calibre of Carlsen or Giri didn’t call for going overboard. “I don’t try to celebrate at all… I think it’s nothing compared to what they all have achieved,” he says. “They have been performing at this level for ages. I am happy with these results, that I can compete with them, but it would take more hard work to match their standards.” Asked if he were to choose between passing his exams or winning the Chessable Masters, he had no doubts — the chess title, obviously. It didn’t happen this time, but he’s young, talented and hard-working. The future seems bright.

Tribune News Service